The Not a Book Club Club discussion
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The Collapsing Empire
John Scalzi
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TCE: Part 2 - Chapters 7-12
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First off Kiva does betray Markis, but only slightly. She puts his sister onto it immediately as a way to screw over the other guy and take his money.
I was still really confused why that guy was so willing to hire pirates and try to kidnap or kill Markus. Especially the kill part.
I was expecting he knew about the collapse of the Flow and was trying to prevent anyone else from finding out. Of course if that had been the case, he would have confiscated that datacrypt and not given it back.
I'm glad the interlude shed light on all of his motivations. I found it HILARIOUS how wrong his family was. It still looks like End will be important though, and the Count is now offereing to help.
I wonder if Scalzi will give him more POV chapters later/in the next book. I feel like someone needs to be the POV on End.
At this point I'm really curious what the Empress is going to do about all of this.
After not getting enough of Marcos story in the first part, I felt there wasn't enough Emperox in this part. I assume things will come together now that our 3 POVs are in the Hub system.I also really enjoyed the interlude which connected Ghreni's House with the Flow, End and the Emperox. And then immediately threw that out the window with the inaccurate scientific findings.
This isn't really a complaint, just an observation - this book is really short. I know Scalzi doesn't really write massive tomes but, at times, this feels (almost) too fast. Interestingly, I read this interview with Scalzi last night where he and Tor kinda look at his works as peoples gateways into science fiction. I can certainly see that at work with this book.
Mod
I do agree that it feels a bit fast, but I'm enjoying the pace. Not everything needs to be "epic" although I am a sucker for epic fantasy.
I love this bit in Chapter 12:“He’s a mess,” Marce said.I had a comment on the frequency of the snark before, but sometimes the lines are just brilliant.
“Yes, well. Lady Kiva tossed him out an airlock,” Pinton answered.
“You threw him into space?”
“Yup.”
“And he didn’t die?”
“We only threw him out a little bit.”
Mod
If your metric for good dialogues is cockiness (pun intended), then he's the master. In fact, it is hard to find much seriousness, he clearly wants to entertain in a humorous way. Sometimes, I love that and need that.
Mod
Rob wrote: "Yeah. I guess I should say fun dialogue. I always find his books fun. I love Kiva as a character, but she's not a person I want to meet."Even when you're a half year on a ship when you could choose between a comfy bed or a sardines can?
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